The 2016–17 FC Basel season was the 124th edition in club history and the club's 22nd consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football. Basel are the reigning Swiss Super League champions. They prepared their season with various warm-up matches against teams from Germany, Russia and France as well as from Switzerland. The 2016–17 Swiss Super League season started on the week-end 23/24 July, the last round was played on 2 June 2017. Basel started with a home game against Sion.
Basel were qualified for the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League in the Group stage. The draw was held on 25 August 2016, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. Basel were drawn into Group A along with Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal and Ludogorets Razgrad. The first game was at home against Razgrad on 13 September and the last being the home game against Arsenal on 6 December.
The draw for the first round of the 2016–17 Swiss Cup was held on 1 July 2016. The Super- and Challenge League clubs were seeded and could not be drawn against each other. The lower division teams were granted home game advantage. The first round was played on the week-end 13/14 August 2016. The final was played in Stade de Genève on 25 May 2017.
Club FC Basel Holding AG The FC Basel Holding AG owns 75% of FC Basel 1893 AG and the other 25% is owned by the club FC Basel 1893 members. The shareholders of the Holding AG were Bernhard Heusler, Stephan Werthmüller and Georg Heitz. The club FC Basel 1893 functions as a base club independent of the holding company and the AG. FC Basel 1893 AG is responsible for the operational business of the club, e.g. the 1st team, a large part of the youth department and the back office are affiliated to the AG. All decisions that affect the club FC Basel 1893 are made within the AG.
Club management The FC Basel AGM took place on 18 June 2016. The board of directors under president Bernhard Heusler with vice-president Adrian Knup, sport director Georg Heitz, financial manager Stephan Werthmüller and marketing manager René Kamm, and the three directors Reto Baumgartner, Dominik Donzé and Benno Kaiser were willing to continue as before. They were all re-elected unanimously.
Team management Urs Fischer had a running three-year contract as first team manager, which started in June 2015. His assistants were Werner Leuthard, Marco Walker and Markus Hoffmann. Massimo Colomba was the Goalkeeper coach. Massimo Ceccaroni was head of the FCB Youth System. The new coach of the Youth Team (U–21) was Raphaël Wicky.
Overview Offseason and preseason At the end of the 2015–16 FC Basel season Philipp Degen ended his football career and retired from professional football. Between the years 2001 to 2005 and again from 2011 to 2016 Degen played a total of 333 games for Basel scoring a total of 18 goals. 158 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 22 in the Swiss Cup, 39 were in a UEFA European-competitions (Champions League, UEFA Cup, Europa League and UIC) and 114 were friendly games. He scored eleven goals in the domestic league, one in the cup, one in the Champions League and the other five were scored during the test games. During his career with FCB Degen won the Swiss championship eight times and the domestic cup twice.
Also, during the previous season Behrang Safari decided to return to Sweden due to family reasons at the end of the season. He signed for Malmö FF. Between the years 2008 to 2011 and again from 2013 to 2016_ Safari played a total of 291 games for Basel scoring a total of 3 goals. 157 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 14 in the Swiss Cup, 59 were in a UEFA European-competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 61 were friendly games. He scored one goal in the domestic league, the other two were scored during the test games. During his six seasons with FCB Safari won the Swiss championship five times and the domestic cup once.
At the end of the 2015–16 FC Basel season Walter Samuel also ended his football career. Behrang Safari left the club to continue his career by his home club Malmö FF. Breel Embolos transfer to Schalke 04 was confirmed by both teams on 26 June. Despite the fact that he still had a valid contract Naser Aliji joined 2. Bundesliga side 1. FC Kaiserslautern on a free transfer.
Basel announced on 31 August that the contract between them and the 26-year-old Egyptian international Ahmed Hamoudi had been resolved on mutual consent with immediate effect. On 2 September Basel announced that Nicolas Hunziker had been loaned out to the Grasshoppers to gain playing experience. That far during the current season Hunziker had played four games in the Promotion League with the FCB U-21 team, scoring five goals.
On 4 May Basel announced that they had signed 18 year old Paraguayan defender Blás Riveros from Olimpia Asunción on a five-year deal. Due to Riveros commitments with the Paraguay national football team and the Copa America, he was not expected to join the Basel first team until the beginning of July. On 10 May Basel also announced that they had signed Egyptian defender Omar Gaber from Zamalek on a four-year deal. On 15 June Serbian goalkeeper Đorđe Nikolić transferred in from Jagodina, signing a four-year contract. Basel announced on 28 June that they had signed Seydou Doumbia on loan from Roma until 30 June 2017. Three further transfers in were Mohamed Elyounoussi who signed in from Molde, Kevin Bua who came from Zürich and Éder Balanta who transferred in from River Plate. Each of whom signed a four-year deal. One former player transferred back in from VfB Stuttgart, Geoffroy Serey Die, who had left the club a year and a half before due to differences with the former team manager Paulo Sousa.
Mid-season break On 25 January 2017 Basel announced that Birkir Bjarnason had transferred out and Aston Villa confirmed the move. On 31 January 2017 Basel announced that Jean-Paul Boëtius was loaned out to K.R.C. Genk until the end of the season.
The Campaign
Domestic League First half of season Basel's priority aim for the new season is to win the league championship for the eighth consecutive time. The 2016–17 Swiss Super League season started on the week-end 23/24 July. Basel played at home game against Sion. Four of the new signings, Gabar, Balanta, Elyounoussi and Doumbia made their first team league debuts in the 3–0 home win. Doumbia scored his first goal for his new club in the same game and just one week later on 31 July during the away game against Vaduz he scored his second. It was the last goal of the game and Basel won 5–1. Basel took first position in the league table from the very beginning. In fact they started the season very well, winning each of their first seven games, scoring at least three goals in each fixture. After these seven games they were nine points clear of BSC Young Boys in second place and Luzern in third. They had scored 24 goals conceding just five. By the winter break Basel had extended their lead to 12 points ahead of the Young Boys who were in second place in the league table, winning 15, drawing two and only one defeat, scoring 49 and conceding just 15 goals in their 18 matches.
Second half of season The second half of season began on 4 February 2017. In their first game Elyounoussi scored a hat trick for Basel during the home game against Lugano. These were the first three goals and were scored during the first 36 minutes of the game that Basel won 4–0. Basel won nine, drawing three during February, March and April to move clear at the top of the table. Despite that they suffered a defeat in the Stade de Suisse in round 34 against second placed Young Boys, Basel ended the season 17 points clear of their rivals.
Basel were victors in 26 matches, drew eight and suffered only two defeats in the 36 Super League matches, gaining a total of 86 points. The team scored 92 goals (league's highest scorers) with 35 goals against (league's best defence) and ended with a goal difference of +57. Basel's Seydou Doumbia was the club and the Super League top goalscorer with 20 goals. Marc Janko scored 13, both Matías Delgado and Mohamed Elyounoussi ended the season with ten goals. Elyounoussi was the team's top final pass giver with 13 assists.
Domestic Cup Basel's clear aim for the 2016–17 Swiss Cup is to regain the title that they last won in 2011–12. The draw for the first round was held on 1 July 2016. In the first-round teams from Super League and Challenge League were seeded and could not play against each other. In a match, the home advantage was granted to the team from the lower league, if applicable.
Rapperswil-Jona (14 August 2016) Basel were drawn away against Rapperswil-Jona who at that time played in the 1. Liga Promotion, the third tier in the Swiss football pyramid. The match was played in the Stadion Grünfeld in Rapperswil with an attendance of 4,350 fans and this was a stadium record. The underdogs started well into the game and the visitors had problems getting into their game. Until the interval the few opportunities that FCB created were all wasted or the ball was saved by the well reacting goalkeeping. Even after the break the favourites had problems with themselves. But in the end the minimum margin was enough for FCB to the advance to the next round. Midfielder Jean-Paul Boëtius, so far without a single minute of play in the league, saved the team from possibly malicious comments, with the only goal of the game. The leader of the Promotion League braced themselves with flying colours and tactical skill against the Champions League participants, who, however, only made the minimum of efforts. The FCRJ defended flawlessly until the 58th minute, before the Dutch Boëtius beat the brilliant amateur goalkeeper Diego Yanz for the only time.
Zug 94 (18 September 2016) Teams from Super League were seeded in round 2 and the home advantage was granted to the team from the lower league. Basel were drawn against Zug 94, who at that time played in the 1. Liga, the fourth tier of Swiss football. The match was played in the Herti Allmend Stadion in Zug with an attendance of 4,200 spectators. The FCB coach Urs Fischer rested the entire first team, bringing in eleven new players compared with their last match. The only goal of the match was scored by Daniel Hoegh with a header in the 45th minute. Following corner from Jean Paul Boëtius to the rear post, the central defender jumped the highest to score an unsavable goal. The lower-class team tried everything to make up for this narrow deficit, but realistic opportunities to do so were hardly to be seen. Basel again had to be content with a minimal 1–0 win away against Zug 94. FCB's second formation did not do more than required to advance. Apart from the always committed Geoffroy Serey Die, one or the other player's ambition to play in the starting line-up was completely missing.
Tuggen (26 October 2016)